On Feb. 29, 1940, actress Hattie McDaniel became the first black person to win an Oscar. She won best supporting actress for her role as Mammy in "Gone With The Wind."
In 1968, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by the Beatles won the Grammy for album of the year, plus three other Grammys. Bobbie Gentry won the best new artist Grammy, the first country-and-western star to do so. "Up, Up and Away" by The 5th Dimension won record and song of the year.
In 1972, John Lennon's U.S. immigration visa expired. He struggled for three and a-half years to keep from being deported.
In 1976, Michael Nesmith of The Monkees married Kathryn Bild. They divorced in 1988.
In 1980, the sheriff of Mason City, Iowa, discovered Buddy Holly's glasses and the Big Bopper's watch in some old police files. Holly and the Big Bopper had been wearing those items when their plane crashed in 1959.
In 2000, guitarist Dennis Danell (dah-NEL') of Social Distortion died of a brain aneurysm in Newport Beach, California. He was 38.
In 2004, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" won eleven Oscars, including best picture.
Leap Year Birthdays: Actor Antonio Sabato Jr. is 13 (born 1972). Rapper Ja Rule is 12 (born 1976). Singer Mark Foster (Foster the People) is 10 (born 1984).